


You put a spell on me

by Swolosheep



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bodyswap, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mild torture, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-05-30 10:55:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15095243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swolosheep/pseuds/Swolosheep
Summary: Jongdae has been in love with his hunting partner, Minseok, for as long as he can remember. So when a mischievous witch swaps their bodies, it seems like a blessing in disguise. However, when said witch goes on a murderous rampage, catching her and locking her up turns into their first priority. Returning to their own bodies is pushed to the background, but Jongdae’s feelings for his best friend aren’t.





	1. Hey

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, a massive thank you to my beta, [Spookje](https://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view_author_stories/832529/L). If you're in the mood for some more Xiuchen, definitely check her out on Asianfanfics.  
> This work has been crossposted on [AFF](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1322944/you-put-a-spell-on-me-angst-exo-xiuchen-bodyswap-supernaturalau). 
> 
> This story has been heavily inspired by the TV Show Supernatural, so anyone who watches it might notice some similarities. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen a single episode, everything you need to know will be explained. Enjoy reading!

The first thing Jongdae sees when he opens his eyes is an extremely dirty floor. He has a massive headache and feels slightly disorientated. The last thing he remembers is chasing some pain in the arse witch, that’s been bothering the local people of a small town for a while now. Jongdae can’t remember the name of said town, how he ended up on the floor and where he is. He huffs and slowly tries to sit up. Hopefully him lying here means Minseok is close by. When he finally manages to stand up he spots a small figure lying not too far from him. That must be Minseok, who else could it be? Jongdae makes his way over to the older man on shaky legs.

 

He silently scolds himself. Even after all their years of hunting all kinds of dangerous creatures, they still get ambushed by some punk ass witch. God, he hates witches so much. Most of them just curse and bewitch people for the hell of it, but murder just for the sake of ingredients is also a common practice. It seemed like this witch definitely fit into the first crowd. Don’t witches have something better to do than just messing with people? The town they were visiting this time around had several reports of people acting strange, having unexplained warts on their face or changing into inanimate objects. Minseok and Jongdae almost immediately knew what they were dealing with.

 

Jongdae doesn’t bother looking around and makes his way over to what he assumes is his hunting partner. He leaves those troubles for later in favour of waking up Minseok. He’s lying on his side with his back facing Jongdae. When Jongdae gradually gets closer to his friend, he notices that something about him seems off. He knows Minseok well enough to recognise that the man lying in front of him definitely isn’t his friend. He is slightly too tall, his neck too long and his ears are too big. Jongdae pats around his waist, but to no avail. It’s highly likely that the witch took his gun. If this person on the ground gets aggressive, he will just have to solve it with his fists. He crouches down to check if the man is still alive.

 

Jongdae lets out a high pitched scream when the person’s face comes into view. His eyes must be deceiving him. The hunter is looking right at… himself. How can this be possible? He firmly rubs his eyes and pinches himself in an effort to wake up from this nightmare. That doesn’t seem to do it. His body is still on the ground. Did the witch use a spell to duplicate him just to mess with his head? Also, if this man isn’t Minseok, then where is he? Jongdae quickly scans the rest of the abandoned building the witch left them in, but doesn’t spot the fellow hunter. He hears a grunt coming from his right, his clone is waking up. What is he supposed to say? ‘You look handsome.’ No, awful idea. He is still crouched in front of his clone’s face when said man slowly opens his eyes. As soon as Jongdae’s face comes into view he screams and scatters away. Jongdae huffs.

 

“Am I that ugly? We look exactly the same you know.”

 

Jongdae 2.0 looks at him with wide eyes and furiously shakes his head. “This can’t be true,” he mutters to himself. His clone roughly scrubs his face and looks up at him again. The man holds his own hands in front of his face and gulps. He starts patting his own body and suddenly looks up to Jongdae again.

 

“Jongdae-“

 

The younger man immediately interrupts. “How do you know my name, clone?” Jongdae frowns at his own voice. Why does he sound so weird, yet so familiar?

 

His clone sighs and tries again. “Jongdae, take a good look at yourself.”

Jongdae narrows his eyes in suspicion but does as he is told. The first thing he does is intensely study his hands. They are smaller and more delicate than before. When he looks down he notices that his chest is wider, he is closer to the ground than he is used to and a lock of black hair falls in front of his eyes. Jongdae vividly remembers dying his hair a dark brown. The hair, body and hands combined with the all too familiar voice make Jongdae’s head spin. Did the witch seriously make them swap bodies? Is he trapped inside Minseok? He groans in frustration.

 

“Is this arsehole fucking kidding me? Did she swap our bodies?” Jongdae exclaims in Minseok’s voice. He sees his friend inside his body frown and nod. It’s incredibly strange seeing his friend pull his usual expressions, only with his own face. For experienced hunters like them, it’s no reason to panic. All though it’s nothing harmful, it’s extremely inconvenient and strange.

 

“I think so,” Minseok sighs and darts his eyes around. “Another important question, where the fuck are we?”

 

Jongdae shrugs and mutters “No clue.” He pats his -technically Minseok’s- body down to look for his friend’s phone. He grits ‘his’ teeth when it’s apparent the witch also took his phone. He’s going to have so much fun ratting her out to the Witch Counsel once they find her. The look on Minseok’s face tells him that he has no luck in finding his cell phone either.

It feels immensely weird doing all the things he usually does inside his fellow hunter’s body. The moves he makes are still his own doing, but Minseok’s different body proportions make it all slightly uncoordinated. His friend must feel the same way, judging from the discomfort on his face. The younger man wobbles over to his companion and squeezes his shoulder.

 

“How weird this all may be, I still need you to be careful with my body. I know that you like to be reckless sometimes, but I want it back as beautiful as I left it.” Jongdae takes Minseok face in his hand to check for any bruises. It’s still so strange to see his own face from an outsider perspective. He notes that there is no bruising and quickly lets Minseok go. Even with his throbbing head, Jongdae sets on exploring the room. During his quick scan he spots a heavy looking wooden door. Twice the surprise, the door is not locked and neither are they in the middle of nowhere. The old, beat up street that greets them as soon as they open the door looks very abandoned, but at least they are somewhere in the town the witch liked to torment. Jongdae can see the top of the local church sticking out behind the rundown buildings.

 

“At least she had the decency not to throw us in a ditch somewhere,” Minseok says, as if he just read Jongdae’s mind. He points to the church roof.

 

“Our motel isn’t very far from the church, if I remember correctly. Let’s just walk towards it and see-” But instead of giving a proper answer, Minseok wildly shakes his head and fists his hands in Jongdae’s hair. Seeing as his hair is recently dyed, he hopes Minseok doesn’t pull too hard. Jongdae’s scalp is always extra sensitive after a dye job, so Minseok tugging on the strands might not be the brightest idea. The crazy expression his friend is wearing on Jongdae’s face stops him from saying anything it though. He’ll just casually mention it later, when Minseok is not freaking out.

 

“My car!” Minseok exclaims, “We need to find my Baby first.” The hunter looks around with crazy eyes. Jongdae grimaces at the sight of his own face. Does he always look this ridiculous when he pulls that expression? Maybe it’s just that Minseok’s usual expressions look absurd on Jongdae and he is just distracted by Minseok’s stunning good looks, now only visible when he looks in the mirror. He’s already tired of glancing towards his partner and seeing his own face, missing Minseok’s cat-like eyes, beautiful arched eyebrows and red, oh so kissable lips. Anyway, what were they talking about again? Right, Minseok and his never ending obsession with his stupid car. Jongdae has known his fellow hunter since early primary school. Even at that age, he was always eying the car his father drove around in. When the old man handed the thing over to Minseok once he turned 18, he was over the moon. He gloated about it for an entire month, in which Jongdae was very tempted to run him over with said car. Jongdae is convinced that if the car was small enough, Minseok would drive it to bed and share the blanket with it. Actually, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched that the older man occasionally spent the night sleeping in his car, just for the hell of it. Even though the admittedly shitty motel beds they usually sleep on are way more comfortable.

 

Minseok is still muttering to himself about his ‘Baby’, so Jongdae takes him by the wrist and leads him away from the abandoned street. Judging from the position of the sun it’s around noon. “How about we go find your car after we eat something?” Jongdae’s stomach seems to agree that lunch is long overdue. Minseok mumbles out one last thing before nodding as an answer. Never in his life has Jongdae been this uncannily hungry. Not that strange considering he is stuck in his friends body, whom always eats for three and somehow still manages to have better abs than he does. 

 

After walking for about 15 minutes filled with Jongdae complaining that he is starving, they find an American style diner. Greasy, unhealthy food, just what he was craving. Minseok has to stop him from ordering practically every single item on the menu. As soon as the waitress comes back with their food, the pair is too busy wolfing it all down to talk about what happened. Conversation slowly starts up once every single plate is clean.

 

“So, we have several things to figure out. First and foremost, where the hell in my car?” Jongdae rolls his eyes but lets his friend continue. “Secondly, how do we reverse the spell? I never thought I say this, but I’m getting tired of seeing my own face.” Jongdae sighs, this wasn’t even the entire list.

 

“Even if we can reverse the spell on our own, we still need to find the witch and bring her to the Witch Counsel. Otherwise she’ll continue to terrorize this town. It won’t be long before she gets tired of just messing with people and instead starts killing them,” Jongdae says all too casually, being used to witches doing crazy things. What he’s still not used to however, is opening his mouth and hearing an entirely different voice come out. Instead of his own, it’s Minseok’s softer, higher-pitched one. Jongdae could listen to himself talk all day, finding the sound of his friend’s voice pleasant to the ears. Aside from the initial annoyance, being stuck in Minseok’s body might not be as bad as Jongdae initially thought. When he runs his hand through his hair he is met with a mop of soft, silky strands, instead of his own, slightly damaged ones. Playing with his own fingers or discreetly feeling up his own biceps is not frowned upon, it can easily be played off as a nervous habit. The witch might have unwillingly done him a favour by giving him an opportunity like this. Jongdae gives his arm another good squeeze and flexes, appreciating the muscle bulging up underneath his shirt. He glances over to Minseok in the hope that he didn’t notice any of that, but the latter is rather busy staring out of the window. He crosses his arms and bites his bottom lip, a little habit he has when he is deep in thought. Something like that would usually be a massive distraction for Jongdae. Minseok’s lips would be red and glossy, making it hard to look away. Having a crush on your best friend and hunting partner sucks major ass. Not only does he get distracted if Minseok does anything even remotely sexy, but he also has to live in close proximity with him all the time while trying not to jump his bones. Luckily, Jongdae is looking right at himself, which makes the lip biting anything but a turn on. Another added bonus to the body swap situation.

 

“Excuse me, could you turn the volume up please?” Jongdae’s brooding is interrupted by Minseok suddenly speaking up, direction the question to the employee behind the bar. Minseok seems intensely focused on TV hanging right above their heads. Jongdae follows his gaze to see what he is watching. When he hears the words ‘strange death’ leave the local newscaster’s lips he understands. That filthy witch has taken the murderer route earlier than he expected. She left them alive after all, it feels like a sudden change of MO. They seem to mutually agree that there is no time to ponder about the fact. Jongdae drops his utensils while Minseok throws some bills on the table, before they quickly get up from their booth.

 

“Seems like we have to pick up your car another time.”

 

Minseok throws him a gloomy look and grunts. “Let’s just go to the motel.”

 

Jongdae thanks whoever is responsible for making this town so small. After hastily asking for directions, it turns out their motel is only a five minute walk away. As if to compensate for all the other shit this case throws at them, the motel is not as crappy as the ones they were used too. Everything is clean, the beds don’t smell funny and aren’t laughably small. The paintings on the walls are hideous and cheap looking, but Jongdae doesn’t care as long as there is hot, running water and two beds to sleep in.

They both take a quick shower (which in Jongdae’s case mostly consisted of trying not to get a hard-on while rubbing soap all over Minseok’s body) before changing into their suits and digging up their fake FBI badges. Pretending to be federal agents to question unsuspecting witnesses is one of Jongdae’s favourite things to do when working a case. Of course, sometimes witnesses were traumatised, which made questioning them difficult and emotional. As ‘federal agents’ they occasionally get the blame from either victims or the police themselves for not acting quick enough. To top it all off, having to constantly be around Minseok in a suit was painfully hard (no pun intended). Wait, why was pretending to be a FBI agent his favourite thing again? His inner monologue is interrupted by an uncomfortable tightness around his chest. Jongdae looks down and notices that he put on his own suit jacket, which doesn’t fit Minseok’s more buff physique. He takes the garment off and throws it towards Minseok, who smirks at him as he catches the thing easily.

 

Luckily, they didn’t put all their guns, witch killing bullets and spare phones in the trunk of Minseok’s car. They both finish changing and, much to Minseok’s dismay, walk to the crime scene. The pair ends up in a bit of a high end neighbourhood. One of the more luxurious houses on the block is covered in yellow tape and surrounded by police cars. The building is stark white, with huge windows and an unnecessary big front yard. When the pair tries to enter they are stopped by a stern looking police officer.

 

“What are you doing here? This is a crime scene part of an ongoing investigation,” She barks at them. Jongdae throws his friend a knowing look before they whip out their fake FBI badges. The woman stutters and lets them inside after a quick apology. Right, this is why Jongdae likes pretending to be federal agents so much, to shove it in people’s faces when they don’t believe them (even though they have every right to).

Jongdae opens the door to enter the house and is immediately met by a nauseating stench. He quickly squeezes his nose shut. A lot of people in white suits leave and enter the kitchen. That must be where the body is. The hunter takes one look at the man slumped against the kitchen cabinets and immediately knows why the entire house smells so bad. It looks like the victim has been decaying there for almost a week.

 

“How long has he been lying here?” Jongdae directs his question to the crime scene investigator who is sweeping for fingerprints next to him. The woman takes off her mask.

 

“They aren’t sure about that yet. For now they estimate about six days.” After answering his question, the woman turns around again to resume her sweeping. Jongdae looks over to Minseok in confusion. Minseok answers his look with a shrug and mouths ‘later’ to him. Later, of course. It will certainly arouse suspicion if they talk about witches surrounded by a room full of crime scene investigators. Jongdae takes a few steps closer to the corpse and crouches down next to it. It looks like there was quite the scuffle beforehand. The kitchen is a mess with utensils lying everywhere and a knocked over coffee machine. There is a bloodied handprint on the handle of the kitchen window, the victim probably tried to escape, but alas. Jongdae drags his eyes over from the chaos in the kitchen over to the slumped over body on the ground. The man looks to be in his late fifties, based on his wrinkled forehead and receding hairline. Judging from the abundance of blood on his sweater and the gaping holes in his chest, he’s been aggressively stabbed around ten times. The messy, deep wounds tell Jongdae that the murder weapon was some sort of long knife with serrated edges. There seems to be so much force behind each stab wound, Jongdae wonders if the witch had any pre-existing vendetta with the victim. Not only that, but stabbing him to death doesn’t resemble the witch’s usual MO. Why would she stab the man when she can just cast a deadly curse? Maybe the answer will become clear once they find out more about the victim. Minseok looks to have the same idea. He waits for Jongdae to get up and they both head over to confront he police officer standing outside.

 

“What do you know about this man?”

 

The woman lets out a nervous cough before telling them everything she knows. “His name is Will Foster, 57 years old. He lived in this house with his wife, Amy Foster, who returned from a three week long business trip this morning. She found him in the kitchen and called the police. According to the wife, Will was a bit of a loner, that’s why nobody was suspicious that he hadn’t been outside for a while.” The police officer nods her head to a small figure huddled in a blanket inside a police car. “She is still a bit in shock right now, but if you have any further questions, you can ask her.”

Jongdae thanks her and starts making his way over to the car. He hears Minseok give the officer his number ‘in case anything else pops up’, behind his back. Sure, totally not because the officer is a pretty, young woman by any coincidence. It always feels like a stab through his heart when Minseok hits on someone he deems attractive enough. He even does it when the situation is not very appropriate. Like now for instance, while they are pretending to be federal agents investigating a bloody murder. So much for professionalism and keeping a low profile. Wait, shit. Minseok is hitting on that woman with his body. What if the woman actually takes up his flirting and they end up going out and having sex? Which will probably lead to his body having all kind of strange diseases and-

 

“Are you alright, Dae? You’ve been staring at the car door for a while now.” Minseok’s hand is on his shoulder and he is right up in his space. Jongdae nods and opens the car door, purposefully ignoring the concerned looks his friend is throwing in his direction.

 

“Mrs Foster?” Jongdae carefully asks. The blond, middle aged woman looks up to him with teary eyes and nods her head. She snuffles her face in a dirty, blue handkerchief before speaking up.

 

“Yeah, that’s my name. How can I help you agents…?” Mrs Foster looks at them expectantly. Of course, they haven’t even told her their names yet. Before Minseok even opens his mouth Jongdae knows it’s going to be some old rockers surname. How no one has ever called them out for that yet seems a miracle. Maybe it’s because most of those names are not well known. Almost all of these rockers are either dead or long forgotten. Jongdae doesn’t even bother checking the names on their fake ID’s anymore.

 

“Agents Walsh," Minseok points to himself, "and Ehart," he says while putting his hand on Jongdae’s shoulder again. After he’s done introducing them, Minseok’s hand travels to Jongdae’s upper back and stays there. Great, like that’s not going to be distracting at all. It’s his own hand, so instead of the usual butterflies, it feels like a weird out of body experience. Still, the spot on his back where Minseok hand is resting feels lot warmer than it should be. His friend continues talking since Jongdae isn’t going to ask a question any time soon.

 

“We’re terribly sorry for your loss. I can imagine how hard it is to talk about this all over again. But we need you to tell us everything you know so we can find the person who killed your husband.”

 

Mrs Foster nods meekly. “I’ll tell you anything. Just, please, find the one who did this to him and put them in jail for good. Will didn’t deserve this.” She cries out with a heartbroken expression. Jongdae swallows thickly. Even after all these years filled with countless of cases, it still breaks his heart a little to see such sadness. Minseok leaves Jongdae’s side in favour of crouching down in front of the crying woman.

 

“I’m really sorry for asking these kinds of questions, but did your husband have any enemies? Did he get threats of some kind right before the murder?” Mrs Foster furiously shakes her head.

 

“He was such a sweet man. Even though he didn’t go outside too much, he was still so kind to everybody he came across. He’s a teacher in our local secondary school and even spends his free time helping kids who have learning difficulties. Those children loved him, we always got ‘thank you’ cards in the mail.”

 

“What about strange behaviour? Before you left, did your husband behave different than usual? Anything out of the ordinary?”

 

Again, the woman shakes her head and sheds a few more tears. “No, nothing strange. God, I wish I never went on that trip, maybe I could have prevented it al. I mean, he always complained that I was away too much anyway. I should have never left him alone for so long,” is the last thing Mrs Foster tells them before bursting into tears. Jongdae tries to get her to talk again, but to no avail. They leave her with their business cards and all the well wishes in the world. 

 

When the pair is back in their motel room, Jongdae brings up the thing that’s been bothering the whole time.

“Six days, he’s been dead for six whole days. Why did the witch leave us alive?”

 

Minseok lifts his shoulders and looks puzzled. “Maybe she likes the chase?” That seems like a plausible explanation. The witch gets her ‘fun’ out of messing with people, after all.

 

“And more importantly, why stab him to death? Her MO up until now is to use magic. Why not curse him so that his head explodes, or he turns into slime?” Jongdae adds.

 

Minseok narrows his eyes. “That struck me as strange too. What caused her to drastically change her MO like that? Maybe she had some pre-existing beef with the guy? Although I have no clue where the two would have met, since mister Foster stayed inside all day.” Yet another fact that doesn’t seem to add up. What seemed to be an easy case slowly starts to morph into so much more. Usually they either kill the witch if she poses a major threat, or bring her to the Witch Counsel in case of minor offenses. That never takes them more than a few days. Only this twat waffle had to be a pain in the arse. Jongdae just hopes they get out of this in once piece, preferably back in their own bodies.

 

“Dae?” Jongdae when he hears the tone Minseok uses to say his name. That could never mean anything good. “Remember that the last time we saw the witch was in the bar down the road?” Of fucking course.

 

“You just want an excuse to go the bar again, don’t you?” The younger man sighs, but knows damn well that he will go along with anything Minseok says.

 

His fellow hunter huffs and pretends to be insulted. “No, of course not, I would never do that. There is just a high probability that we are going to see her again. I mean, we have no other lead on her current location.” Jongdae rolls his eyes but still grabs his coat to follow his friend out the door nonetheless. He is so whipped.


	2. There

“What can I get you boys?” Jongdae internally groans when he sees Minseok look up at the sweet voice. The bartender has a cute, bordering on feminine face, but judging from the flat chest and lack of curves he is definitely male. He also spoke with a slight Chinese accent, exactly Minseok’s type. They just arrived in this divvy bar and the bartender is already giving his friend major bedroom eyes. To make matters worse, Jongdae doesn’t want to be here, at all. The interior is old-fashioned and poorly maintained. He can see paint chipping of the wall and suspicious yellow stains on the, what he assumes was once a white, ceiling. To top it all off, it smells funny, the bar stools are too high, everything he touches is sticky and he is exhausted. As the only bar in town it’s not like they have much competition, but they could at least put in some effort. On their way here, Minseok promised he would just ask the staff for security footage of the witch, nothing else. Jongdae knows that was a lie but went along with it anyway.

 

“We’re actually here to take a look at your security camera footage from two days ago,” Minseok answers the bartender and shows him his badge. The man’s deep-brown eyes widen in shock.

 

“FBI? That can’t be! You are way too handsome to be a federal agent.” The bartender almost purrs while slowly leaning towards Minseok. Jongdae has to hold himself back from slamming his head against the bar. On a rare occasion Minseok doesn’t actually initiate the flirting, the bartender does. Fantastic. Then again, it was slightly flattering to hear those words spoken about his body. With his heart-shaped face, pink lips and perfectly styled hair, it’s going to be hard for Minseok to ignore his advances. When Jongdae looks over to his friend he notices a conflicted expression on his face. He’s probably contemplating if getting into the guys pants is worth the shit he’ll be getting from Jongdae later. Surprisingly, the older hunter doesn’t flirt back, Minseok suddenly grabs Jongdae by the arm instead and points towards his face.

 

“What do you think about my partner, he looks handsome too right?” The bartender gapes at them before quickly sputtering out an apology.

 

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were taken. I’ll go get the manager for you. He can help you with the security footage.” The man blurts out before practically running towards the ‘employees only’ door. Silence falls upon them before Jongdae bursts out in a laughing fit, causing him to fall of his stool.

 

“I can’t believe you just got cock blocked by your own ego.” The younger man wheezes out. The bartender was technically flirting with Jongdae, seeing how their bodies are still switched. That probably rubbed the older hunter the wrong way. Watching his friend flush a bright red made Jongdae regret coming here much less. Minseok huffs but Jongdae can see a tiny smile creep in there. This whole body swap situation turns out to be funnier than expected. Besides, having Minseok all to himself instead of him sleeping around is always an added bonus. Now that Jongdae thinks about it, they should really establish some ground rules regarding each other’s bodies.

 

“As funny as this turned out to be, no more flirting in my body,” Jongdae deadpans. “You know what, no flirting, no sex, no nothing. I want my body back in the same condition as I left it.”

 

Minseok looks taken back by this sudden declaration, a pout beginning to form on his face. “No flirting? What harm can that do?”

 

“More than enough. Can’t you just lay off flirting until your back in your own body again? I can’t be that hard.”

 

Right after Jongdae frustratingly utters those last words he realises his unfortunate choice of wording. Minseok’s eyebrows shoot up and he takes a calculating step towards Jongdae, invading his personal space. Even in his body Minseok manages to perfectly execute his flirty expression. “Oh it’s very hard,” he whispers seductively in Jongdae’s ear, putting emphasis on the last word. As if he wasn’t just all up in Jongdae’s face, Minseok plants himself on a barstool and throws his friend a lazy smile. “Flirting just comes natural to me. Please let me just do my thing, I’ll be extra careful, I promise.”

 

Jongdae narrows his eyes. “What are you even implying?”

 

“I’m just curious as to how it would feel to have sex with someone else in your body. Aren’t you?” Minseok looks awfully relaxed for somebody who just dropped a bombshell. Jongdae sputters in disbelief. Yes he is curious, but he absolutely doesn’t want Minseok to fuck a random stranger in his body. He wants Minseok to fuck him, or fuck Minseok, preferably both. Outright telling him might not be the best move though, he’ll just have to bring it as subtle as possible.

 

“The only thing you can go fuck is yourself.” Judging from Minseok’s amused expression that might not have been as subtle as he hoped.

 

“Are you offering?” Minseok counters jokingly, successfully lightening the mood between them. Playing it off as joke is probably the best thing to do in this situation, before Minseok notices that Jongdae is in fact, deadly serious about that offer. Just as Jongdae is about to dispute the claim, a question directed at them prevents him form doing so.

 

“Gentlemen, how can I help you?” The tall, intimidating looking guy talking to them apparently is the manager. Jongdae hadn’t even noticed the man approaching them, too busy bickering with his partner. He rapidly grabs his FBI badge and asks the same question Minseok did earlier.

 

“Security footage? No problem, follow me to the back.” The manager leads them to a small, dimly lit room filled with monitors. He explains how everything works before leaving them to their own devices. After pausing, rewinding and squinting at the footage for a while, the pair finally finds what they are looking for. A camera monitoring the back entrance shows footage of the witch leaving the bar and returning in a time span of ten minutes, with what looks like to be a hex bag in her hand.

 

“She was able to fetch that hex bag in less than ten minutes, her hiding spot must be close to the bar,” Jongdae concludes after watching the whole ordeal. The next time the witch appears on screen, she is closely followed by Minseok and Jongdae. She was obviously smart enough not to lead them to her hiding place. Jongdae sees her walk in another direction before she disappears out of the camera’s sight.

 

“Let’s search the area. Maybe we’ll even find my Baby.” Minseok jumps up. He looks excited with the prospect of finding his car. Although Jongdae doesn’t like to admit it, he misses the stupid thing. Mainly because most of their weapons and munition are still in the trunk, but also because Minseok’s eyes actually sparkle every time he sees his car. Jongdae should find it ridiculous, but he can’t help but embrace it as one of Minseok’s many quirks. It’s kind of cute actually. He wonders if those sparkling eyes will still look cute when they’re portrayed on his own face. Jongdae chuckles to himself and accompanies his friend to the back entrance. The pair follows the direction the witch went in. They snoop around for a while, ring a few doorbells and look through several windows. Nothing suspicious, until they come across a house where nobody opens the door. According to the neighbours, the residents are on a lengthy holiday. They only check in once a week to water the plants, any other time the residence is left unguarded. Ideal circumstances for the witch. They decide to go around the back in case the witch is currently in the house. Jongdae takes his gun out of the holster and makes his way around the corner of the building. The first thing that comes into his sight is none other than Minseok’s car. How did that thing get here? They’ve never been here before.

 

“Min, how did your car get here?” Instead of answering his very important question, Minseok chooses to bolt towards his car while loudly exclaiming his love for the thing. Too sleepy to call Minseok out on his weird behaviour, Jongdae just rolls his eyes so hard it aches, but trails after his friend anyway. Only because he needs more witch killing bullets, definitely not because even in another body, his friend looks cute when he’s enthusiastic. The expressions on his face are so typically Minseok that Jongdae almost forgets that what he’s looking at is his own face. When the older hunter is about to open the door he abruptly stops. He curses loudly and stomps his feet on the ground.

 

“That fucking bitch. Defiling my car. How dare she!” He screams in fury. Curious to see what all the commotion is about, Jongdae walks over to the front of the car. His eyes widen at the sight that greets him. There is a decaying body sitting on the passenger seat. The body must have been there for at least as long as they lost the car, and it shows. Jongdae moves his hand to open the car door for further inspection, but gets stopped by Minseok who slaps it away.

 

“Wait, don’t touch it! If the police find out the body was found in my car they’re going to confiscate it.” The older hunter whines while taking a hold Jongdae’s hand. The younger man can feel anger boiling inside of him and rips his hand from Minseok’s grip.

 

“I can’t believe you, Minseok. You are more concerned about your stupid car than the fucking dead person that’s sitting there. Don’t you have at least a bit of compassion?!” Jongdae furiously spits at his friend. He could be so insensitive sometimes. Minseok’s look of anger and annoyance rapidly fades into one of regret. He seems to shrink at Jongdae’s heated stare and sighs deeply.

 

“You’re right,” he whispers softly, “An innocent person was killed and I show more remorse for my vehicle. I’m sorry,” Minseok adds with downcast eyes. He steps aside so Jongdae can properly open the passenger door. Seeing his friend like this almost makes Jongdae regret yelling at him, almost. It’s a good thing that Minseok can easily put his pride aside after he’s been set straight. When you point out an obvious mistake, the older hunter will do everything in his power to better himself. At least he doesn’t dwell too much on old habits. Jongdae realises that his friend might be right about one thing, the police can’t take Minseok’s car. Better said, the body can’t be found in Minseok’s car. That’ll make them suspects, resulting in being taken off the case. They’re still missing a lot of information, which will slow their investigation down. It will only be a matter of time before another body shows up, so they can’t waste another minute.

Jongdae places his fingers under Minseok’s chin so he can look him in the eye. It’s still extremely weird having to see his own body this close through the eyes of an outsider. The younger hunter hopes he doesn’t have to get used to it.

 

“You don’t have to apologize to me, just don’t be so disrespectful towards the dead. They might come and haunt you.” He teases in an attempt to lighten the mood. Minseok mouth twists in a smile, so naturally Jongdae’s does too. “Also, you might have kind of a point. If the body is found in your car, we probably become suspects. Seeing how this case is not going too well up to this point, we can’t have that. What I suggest we do, is put on our latex gloves, move the body to a dumpster and call it in.” Jongdae points to the dumpster not too far from the car. If they are lucky enough, no nosy neighbour will see them carry the body.

 

Minseok narrows his eyes and purses his lips. “If we call it in, what do we say as the reason we are here? Just having a stroll?” He jokes.

 

Jongdae shrugs. “We’ll say we’re following a lead. We can use the witch as an easy scapegoat. Either we catch her or the police does. Neither in death nor in jail is she able to practice magic, so both sound like good options to me.” Minseok grins and pinches Jongdae’s cheek.

 

“You are so smart, Dae,” he coos, “Also, my skin feels really soft, what crème are you using?” He pats his cheeks a few more times for good measure. The younger hunter snorts and shakes his head.

 

“I’ll show you when we get to the motel. For now, we need to get rid of the body.” Minseok nods in agreement and heads over to the trunk. He takes out two pairs of latex gloves and hands one to Jongdae. When the younger hunter opens the car door, the body falls out. Luckily, he is just in time to catch it. Again, the body smells disgusting. Not that strange since the woman has been lying in the hot car for two days.

 

“Grab the legs… The legs, Minseok. She’s heavy,” he urges his friend. Minseok does as he is told and together they carry the body to the dumpster. In the brief time Jongdae has to observe the dead woman, he notices she is even more mutilated than the other man. Like the previous victim, she has been brutally stabbed multiple times. However, this time the witch cut off her ears, gouged out her eyes and sewn her mouth shut. The murders seem to get more and more brutal. Perhaps the witch is working her way up to a list of people she hates. The woman herself looks like an average citizen. She is slightly older than the previous suspect and as skinny as a rake. There isn’t a single drop of blood on the driver’s seat of Minseok’s car. That can only mean that the witch killed the woman somewhere else and put her in their car, obviously trying to frame them. Although the car is parked right in front of her supposed hiding place, which kind of defeats the purpose. The lack of magic is also a big question in Jongdae’s mind. His fellow hunter notices the mutilation too.

 

“What in the name of all that is holy did this woman do to the witch to deserve this kind of torture?” Minseok groans while they throw the body in dumpster. The body lands with a thud and Jongdae cringes at the sound. It feels wrong carelessly dumping the body in the same place where people throw their rubbish. What he is about to ask Minseok, feels even more wrong.

 

“Min? I know I just gave you a whole speech about respecting the dead and such, but I’m too tired to deal with anything else today. Let’s just call it in tomorrow, yeah?” Barely being able to keep his eyes open doesn’t seem like the ideal state to face a possible police interrogation about the body. Minseok cocks his head to the side and purses his lips.

 

“What if somebody else finds her?”

 

“Then we will even be less suspected. A win, win situation, except for the possible trauma the poor soul finding the body might endure.” Jongdae shrugs. He peels off his gloves, stuffs them in his coat pocket and plops himself in the passenger seat. He slowly dozes off while Minseok busies himself with frantically cleaning the driver’s seat.


	3. Demons

When Jongdae cracks his eyes open, he is definitely not in the car anymore. The awful paintings hanging on the mismatching wall paper tell him he is in the motel. He peels off the blankets and sees that he is still wearing yesterday’s outfit, minus his shoes, socks and jacket. Probably Minseok’s doing. Speaking of Minseok, where is he? The bed next to him is empty and the bathroom lights are off. So he is clearly not in their room. Jongdae’s eyes land on a white piece of paper placed on top of his nightstand. It just says ‘Out to get food’. Jongdae doesn’t expected a four page explanation of Minseok’s whereabouts, but he could at least tell him when he gets back. It’s not like he has any idea how long he slept and when his friend left the motel. The numbers on Jongdae’s phone screen tell him it’s 9:07. The hunter groans, rubs his eyes and gets up to take a shower. He really just wants to enjoy a hot shower in peace, but Minseok’s body clearly has other plans. A morning wood, great. What should he do about it though? Jongdae can do what he always dreamed of, touch Minseok’s body without anything holding back. Still, it’s technically him inside, so he will just bring pleasure to himself. Also, Minseok can’t possibly consent to this, which is definitely a bad thing. On the other hand, his fellow hunter doesn’t need to know and like he said, it’s still just him. And how else is he going to get rid of his little problem?

 

After some debate Jongdae decides to just go along with Minseok’s body, willing the boner to go away seems like too much of an effort. He steps into the shower, turns on the hot water and slowly starts to stroke himself. Usually, Jongdae keeps his eyes shut tight while jacking off, but he can’t help but admire Minseok’s muscles twitching in pleasure. Everything about it feels different. The hand wrapped around his member is smaller and more delicate than he is used to. He always had a thing for Minseok’s hands. Jongdae admires the way they fold around the handle of a gun, or how his slender fingers dance around his lips when he is thinking about something. Having these hands give him pleasure, might be the most arousing thing Jongdae has ever experienced. He shouldn’t let this golden opportunity go to waste. While still stroking his leaking cock at a steady pace, he lets his unoccupied hand travel all over his upper body, curious as to find where Minseok’s sensitive spots are. A shock of pleasure washes over Jongdae as soon as a hand brushes over his nipples. Twisting and tugging on them only makes the already built up pressure in Jongdae’s abdomen increase. It’s obvious that Minseok’s nipples are quite the sensitive spot.

 

“Dae, I just got-” The sudden sound of Minseok’s voice causes Jongdae to stop what he is doing and promptly bump his head against the showerhead. When did he get back? The younger man inwardly curses at the position his friend found him in and the now throbbing pain on the back of his head. He rapidly turns his body towards the shower wall, in an effort to hide his erection.

 

“Get the hell out, I’m showering!” Jongdae exclaims in sheer panic, desperately hoping that Minseok didn’t see what he was doing. The sound of feet shuffling causes Jongdae to crane his head around. Minseok clearly didn’t leave. In fact, he moved from the door opening to stand right in front of the shower stall. His lips slowly curl into a smirk.

 

“What were you just doing to my body, Jongdae?” The question doesn’t come out as an accusation, Minseok voices it rather teasingly. Even though Jongdae has been caught red-handed, his fellow hunter doesn’t seem upset. The latter even takes a step closer, raising his eyebrows as a sign that he’s still waiting on an answer.

 

Jongdae tries to press himself further into the shower wall, hoping that it will just swallow him whole. He mumbles “Just showering,” in an effort to satisfy Minseok’s curiosity. All he gets in return is a huff, before the other hunter steps inside the shower stall fully clothed and turns off the hot water. Jongdae can only stare wide-eyed at his friend, nervously awaiting his next move. The smirk still remains on Minseok’s face when he puts a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder.

 

“Let me help, it’s my body after all.” Wait, did he hear that right, does Minseok want to ‘help’ him? The hand on his shoulder slowly starts to make its way into more intimate territory. Jongdae closely follows it with his eyes and swallows thickly. He still can’t believe the words that just came out of his friend’s mouth.

 

“What did you say?” That comes out squeakier than expected. Minseok snorts at the sound of his voice. It’s obvious that this is a nerve wrecking experience for the younger hunter.

 

In the meantime, Minseok hand has made it to Jongdae’s hip, where it’s sensually caressing the skin. As if Jongdae’s erection wasn’t bad enough yet, he is painfully hard now.

“I said, let me lend you a hand. Come on Dae, turn around.” Almost too eager, Jongdae does what he’s told and turns around, letting his back lean against the shower wall. Minseok’s eyes immediately zero in on his crotch. Instead of instantly helping Jongdae out, the older hunter takes his time eyeing his own body from head to toe. Intrigued, that’s how the younger man would describe the expression currently on Minseok’s face. After what feels like forever, familiar fingers wrap themselves around his member. Jongdae releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Although it’s his own hand giving him pleasure, Minseok is still in charge of the pace and pressure. Jongdae moans and puts a hand on his friend’s shoulder to steady himself. The whole experience is extremely strange. He is still looking at his own body, his own face, right in front of him. Though, knowing that Minseok is in there and willingly doing this, makes up for the whole ordeal. Jongdae keeps his eyes strictly trained on Minseok’s body, purposely avoiding having to look at his own face.

 

Minseok gradually inches closer, while still keeping a steady pace. With every breath their chests touch each other, which brings delicious friction to his sensitive nipples. Even in another body, the heat building up in Jongdae’s abdomen is familiar. Minseok applies slightly more pressure and speeds up his administrations. The hunter moves his head in the crook of Jongdae’s neck and starts kissing his skin. God, that feels so good. He never knew Minseok was so sensitive. Every touch from the other man sends jolts of electricity through his veins. Minseok trails further down his neck and playfully bites his shoulder. It’s all too much, too overwhelming for Jongdae. The younger man let’s out an embarrassingly loud moan as his inviable orgasm hits him. Without having much time to recover, Minseok moves his head away from Jongdae’s shoulder and locks their lips together. He gently coaxes open Jongdae’s mouth and they start exploring each other’s hot caverns. The younger hunter did not expect his friend to make such a move, but more than willingly goes along. Jongdae is not big on chap stick or anything like that, so his own lips feel slightly chapped. Minseok’s skills make up for it though. Not unsurprisingly, he is a very good kisser. Every twist of his tongue and movement of his lips evokes something within Jongdae. Inside his body is the man that has been the object of his desires for so long, he wants to do more, so much more. Though, he doesn’t want to scare Minseok off. This is probably more of a spur of the moment thing for him. So he simply puts his hands on Minseok’s hips and pulls their bodies flush close. There is not a centimetre of space left between them. Jongdae can feel Minseok’s hardened length pressing against his upper thigh. So he is not the only one riled up by this whole situation?

 

Jongdae moves his hands from Minseok’s hip to unzip his trousers, all the while still keeping their lips locked together. The older man moans into Jongdae’s mouth, obviously liking where this is going. They’re not even making out anymore, they’re just breathing each other’s air. The younger hunter wraps his hands around his own familiar member and messily jacks him off. Luckily he knows what his body likes best too, so it doesn’t take long for Minseok to blow his load too. Said man takes a step back from their close position, looks down at the mess and starts taking off his clothes. Does Minseok really want to go all the way? That seems slightly out of the blue. All though everything the older hunter just did was out of the blue.

 

“What are you doing?” Jongdae feels compelled to ask.

 

Minseok raises and eyebrow and looks at him as if he just asked the dumbest question he’s ever heard. “I just came in my pants, so I’m going to join you in the shower and put on a new outfit. It’s not particularly sanitary nor comfortable to walk around with cum in your trousers.” Of course, curse him for getting his hopes up. Don’t get him wrong, it was still amazing that he finally got to have an experience with Minseok like this. The only downside being that said man was still in his body. On the other hand, Jongdae did get to learn a lot about Minseok’s own body, how he reacts to certain things. That would definitely be useful for a next time, if there was going to be one. This could also very well be a case of Minseok’s never ending curiosity. Maybe he just wanted to know how it feels to jerk himself off? The older hunter speaks up, pulling him from his thoughts.

 

“Wow, we got extremely side-tracked. Anyway, the actual reason I came into the bathroom was to tell you that the police officer from the other day called me. There were no matching prints found on the crime scene.” The inner conflict Jongdae is currently having clearly doesn’t plague his older friend. His expressions seems to hold no tension whatsoever, it’s rather blank. Usually, Jongdae doesn’t have a hard time deciphering Minseok’s every look, but the look on his own face was really throwing him off. It’s like he’s purposefully masking his expression to keep it as neutral as possible.

 

Jongdae huffs in frustration. “I could have told you that, there is no way that the witch is in any of their systems. She’s not even from here.” He squirts some shower gel on his hands and starts rinsing of his own cum.

 

“Hey now, don’t get sassy with me, I just wanted to let you know,” Minseok mumbles, bottom lip sticking out in a pout. It wasn’t Jongdae’s intention to sass his friend, but he can’t help it. He knows Minseok long enough to figure out what he is doing. Purposefully talking about anything but the elephant in the room. That’s what he does. If they ever find themselves in an awkward situation, Minseok tries is hardest to refrain from addressing the issue. He will just ramble on in the hope that Jongdae forgets about said issue. Normally Jongdae doesn’t mind, it was Minseok’s way of coping with it. Truth be told, sometimes talking will only make things worse. The problem lies with those other times, but the older hunter clearly can’t differentiate these situations. Occasionally, Jongdae is able to get his stubborn arse to talk, but that was only when Minseok notices that he hurt Jongdae’s feelings. The younger hunter decides to drop the matter until they catch the murderous witch.

 

“Let’s just return to the witch’s suspected hiding place. Hopefully we can finally get our bodies back.”


	4. It's

The house looks empty when they arrive. No sign of the witch. There is no yellow tape anywhere, not a single police car in sight. So nobody has found the body in the dumpster yet. Lucky for them, now they can search the building without any police officers nosing around. They still need to find some sort of spell book to reverse the body swap spell. Jongdae prays to whoever is listening that she left it inside. After confiscating the keys from the next door neighbours (with a little help from their fake badges), they enter the witch's suspected hiding place. Better said, Jongdae hopes they can confirm this is her actual hiding place, otherwise they have no other clues on her whereabouts.

 

The first thing that greets them when they enter is a spacious hallway and wooden stairs leading up to the first floor. Jongdae motions Minseok that he’s going upstairs to inspect that part of the house. The older hunter nods in response and steps inside the kitchen. Jongdae grabs his gun out of his holster and holds it in a steady position, ready to fire at any moment. They have to be extra alert. The witch already got them the first time, they can’t let themselves be cursed again. Upstairs, Jongdae opens door after door, but finds each room unused and unoccupied. No witch, no hex bags, no weird books, no symbols or bottles for potions, just a whole bunch of nothing. He hears Minseok shouting “Clear!” from downstairs as a sign that he didn’t find the witch either. Jongdae mimics his words and makes his way over to the ground floor.

 

“Found nothing downstairs, maybe there’s something in the basement?”

 

Jongdae frowns. The basement? This house has a basement? As if he senses Jongdae’s question, Minseok continues to explain. “The door around the corner leads to another flight of stairs.” The older man points towards a small, beige door which Jongdae can barely see from his position. “I just wanted to wait until you were done searching to investigate it, in case we’ll hit the jackpot. I mean, it’s the most logical place to do any witch-stuff, ‘cause there are no windows. Nobody will see anything,” Minseok adds with a shrug. Seems about right.

 

As soon as the basement comes into view, it looks like Minseok was right. The large, wooden table in the middle of the stuffy room is filled with spell books, bottles containing strange liquids, small animal bones and a whole lot of things Jongdae can’t properly identify. The lighting is terrible, a lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling barely illuminating the surface of the table, but they’ll have to make do with what they get. The hunters make their way over to the pile of books and start searching for the right spell to swap their bodies back. They might as well, now that they’re here. The witch probably has all the things they would need lying around. Jongdae opens up a spell book on the table and lets his fingers skim through the pages, sighing when he encounters yet another useless spell. The presence of a warm body behind him disrupts his intense search. Minseok is leaning over him, his chest touching Jongdae’s back. ‘Now is not the time’ the younger hunter tries to tell himself, but his need for the other overshadows any other concern. He presses himself closer to his friend and leans his head back. Two strong arms snake their way around his waist and plump lips start leaving kisses all over his skin. Jongdae can’t help but let out an involuntary shudder, he did not expect this to happen. Usually these kind of affectionate outbursts take place in a more appropriate setting, not whilst they are doing research. Also, Minseok is leaving a trail of feather light kisses, that’s something new. Not that Jongdae minds, at all. Why question it when he can simply enjoy the moment? Before the situation can escalate any further, they hear the front door opening, signalling them that they’re no longer alone in the house.

 

Both of the hunters have the same instinct. They swiftly untangle themselves and grab their guns. The door towards the basement opens and heavy footsteps can be heard on the stairway. Jongdae turns around to point his gun at the witch and sees Minseok do the same out of the corner of his eye. It looks like the witch needs a moment to process what is happening, before shock takes over and she attempts to flee. However, before she can even reach the end of the stairwell, a bullet hits her leg. The witch screams in pain and collapses on the spot. In an attempt to stop the blood from gushing out of the wound, she firmly places a shaking hand on top of the wound. No longer interested in watching her squirm in pain, Jongdae runs up the stairs to cuff her, in case she tries anything funny. He and Minseok drag the bleeding and screaming witch upstairs. It’s not an easy task. Despite the amount of blood she lost, she still has some fight left in her. With her good leg the witch tries to kick them anywhere she can reach. After she gets a particularly good hit on Jongdae’s shin, the hunter has to stop himself from taking out his gun and shooting her other leg too.

 

Minseok sighs heavily. “She won’t stop kicking, I’m going to fetch some rope.” With those words the older hunter leaves Jongdae behind with the disgruntled witch. She tries to trick him into letting her go by promising ‘to grant his every wish’. Jongdae promptly ignores the witch and throws her on the first chair that comes into view, keeping his gun pointed at her. Anger boils inside of him. Facing him is the person responsible for two murders, maybe even more that they are unaware of. Even after working as a hunter for years, which means seeing innocent people meeting their unfortunate end on an almost daily basis, it still irks him that people are able to inflict this kind of terror on another person. The witch’s endless pleas and screams fall on deaf ears. She doesn’t stop squirming or trying to break free when Minseok returns with the rope and the pair binds her feet.

 

“Sit still, we’re going to ask some questions and you’re going to answer every single one of them, truthfully,” Minseok commands while towering over the witch. When she doesn’t obey, the older hunter presses his thumb on the fresh bullet wound. That causes the blood to flow once again and the witch screams in agony. Minseok retracts his now blood-stained thumb and raises an eyebrow. “Do you understand?” The witch meekly nods and stills her movements.

 

Jongdae, who has been watching the whole ordeal from afar, joins in. “Why did you kill those people? What did they ever do to you?” he spits, not being able to hold back his disgust. As soon as the question has left Jongdae’s lips, the witch looks up with wide eyes. Her expression is one of genuine shock, wide, tearful eyes rapidly looking over from Minseok to Jongdae.

 

“What are you talking about? I never killed anyone!” she yells out aggravated. She looks almost insulted by the accusations, as if she didn’t murder two people. Jongdae knows better than to believe her, witches are masters of manipulation after all. Falling for her tricks would be foolish of an experienced hunter like him. Minseok, not happy with her answer, presses his thumb against the wound on her leg again. The witch starts thrashing around and Jongdae can see his fellow hunter losing his patience. His lips are pressed in a thin, firm line and his nostrils are flaring. Even after repeated cries for help and the witch looking like she is about to faint, Minseok does not let go. Instead, he starts shouting at her to confess, which is only answered by more cries and pleas. Jongdae has seen enough, he wraps his fingers around Minseok’s hand and leads him away from the crying woman. His friend narrows his eyes but follows the younger man nonetheless.

 

“Why’d you do that? She was about to confess.”

 

“No she wasn’t. She was about to pass out.” The older hunter shakes his head, clearly not done with the questioning yet. What the witch did was unforgivable, but that doesn’t mean they needed to stoop to her level. “Look, she’s not going to talk anyway. Let’s just hand her over to the police so she can rot in jail.” In an effort to get Minseok to agree with him, he leans forward and lets his expression do the talking. The older man is always a sucker for his pleading eyes. Instead of crumbling to his will, his hunting partner suddenly doubles over from laughter. Jongdae huffs and takes a step back, not satisfied with this development. It takes a while for Minseok to recollect himself, Jongdae just crosses his arms and waits for an explanation.

 

“Sorry, Dae,” Minseok heaves out, still not fully recovered, “but the expression you usually pull looks ridiculous on my face. I look insane.” Jongdae can feel the corners of his mouth curling up, amused by the change in mood from the other, even if it was at his own expense. Once the older hunter can stand up straight again, they head to the basement to further their research on reversing the spell, leaving the witch to wallow in her own self-pity. This time around, Minseok is focussed on finding the reverse spell rather than distracting Jongdae. The only sounds that can be heard in the stuffy room are pages turning and the older hunter sighing in frustration. Said man aggressively closes yet another book and carelessly throws it on the floor.

 

“Hang in there, Min. We’ll find it eventually.” Minseok grumbles out something in response which Jongdae can’t quite make out. All though his older friend might complain a lot about research, he does actively contribute. Jongdae might like it more than he does, but Minseok is usually rather helpful. Sometimes he can be a bit of a distraction when he decides to wear a pair of tight jeans. Even if Jongdae ends up spending more time drooling over his appearance than actually doing work, his presence is always fruitful. He looks at things from a different perspective and often finds information in places Jongdae never even considered looking. The younger hunter shifts his eyes from Minseok to the spell book in front of him. He is about to turn the page when the older hunter shouts “I found it!” and almost presses a book against his face. Jongdae chuckles and takes the book out of Minseok’s hands to read the spell. After taking a look at the ingredients required and the words they need to say, it doesn’t seem like it's going to be that much of a hassle. Once everything has been gathered, Minseok visibly itches to cast the spell, but Jongdae stops him.

 

“It would be better if we do this back at the motel. What if anything goes wrong? We still have a dead body lying in the dumpster and a witch slowly bleeding to death upstairs.” They don’t have enough experience with casting spells, having done it only a few times before. The chance that anything can go wrong, even with an uncomplicated spell like this, is too high.

 

Minseok shrugs. “You’re probably right, let’s just call it in and have it dealt with.” After placing their necessities in the car, Jongdae informs the local police about their findings through the phone. Several officers arrive not too long after. Minseok and Jongdae leave them to deal with the witch. The police officers easily fall for their made up story about how they shot her in self-defence, after she tried to attack them when she saw them snooping around in the dumpster. They are either stupid or too afraid to question their authority, because their cover up is questionable at best. Jongdae doesn’t bother to dwell on it though, happy that they can finally finish this case and get back in their own bodies.


	5. Me

Jongdae is giddy with excitement. The entire car ride back is spent screaming at Minseok about how happy he is to finally get back in his own body. As a result, the older hunter just looks insulted because Jongdae ‘should be honoured to spend his time in a body crafted by the gods’. In between their back and forth about Minseok’s supposed godly build, the pair gathers the ingredients to perform the spell. Everything is spread out on the shaky, unstable motel table. The only thing left to do is say the right words, Jongdae prays the table will at least hold all their stuff until the spell is done. He takes a shaky breath, nervousness coursing through his veins. Even though the spell is not that complicated, it’s their bodies they’re messing with. Anything minor can go wrong and still have a huge negative impact.

 

“Dae?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I can practically hear those wheels turning inside that head of yours. You should stop worrying so much, we got this.” Minseok pokes his finger against Jongdae’s forehead. The younger hunter didn’t even realise he was frowning and tries to relax his face. To reassure him further, Minseok takes his friend’s hand and gives it a light squeeze. “Come on, it’s almost over.”

 

Jongdae’s hand currently feels like it’s on fire, but he still manages to squeeze back. Their hands fit so well together, Jongdae’s rougher fingers easily slot together with Minseok’s slim, delicate ones. They are no strangers to holding hands, the pair used to do it all the time when they were younger. If Jongdae was upset after a rough day at school, or scared that the monsters he knew were real from a very young age would come and get him, he would just grab Minseok’s hand. All though the older one would always fumble with his words trying to reassure his friend, his open palms and occasional squeezes would say enough. Just like that, it slowly became a way to reassure one another when things got though.

Reluctantly, the younger hunter untangles their hands so they can mix the ingredients together. “If we say what’s written here correctly, we should be back in our own bodies within the next hour,” Jongdae explains while pointing at the words written in the spell book. His friend nods and together they utter the right spell. Immediately after the last words are spoken, a sharp, hot pain shoots through Jongdae’s head. He can vaguely hear Minseok screaming in agony before completely blacking out.

 

With a lot of effort, Jongdae is able to open his eyes. The headache is still there, but at least he somehow managed to fall on the bed, under the covers, sans shoes… wait.

 

“Jongdae, you’re finally awake. You did not take the spell very well and were out for a while. Are you okay?” Worry is clearly evident in both Minseok’s voice and expression. The older man comes to sit on the edge of Jongdae’s bed and smiles softly. Jongdae’s eyes widen at the sight. Instead of looking at his own face, he’s finally able to see Minseok’s lovely gummy smile again, how much he missed it. Minseok’s smile falters. “What got you looking so shocked?”

 

“You. I can finally see your face again, without needing a mirror,” Jongdae confesses sincerely. Before he can stop himself, he sits up so he can reach out to cup Minseok’s face in his hands. Jongdae lets his fingers caress Minseok’s soft skin, he allows himself have this moment. Sometimes, his friend lets him do these kind of things, when he knows Jongdae really needs it. He takes his time gently skimming over every area of Minseok’s face, from his forehead to his lovely, plump cheeks. The older hunter makes no effort to stop him, only swallowing heavily when Jongdae’s fingers graze his lips. It seems like Minseok’s lips are only there to make his life harder. They’re always so rosy and glossy, just screaming to be kissed.

 

“Dae?” Minseok’s raspy voice interrupts his train of thought. The pair locks eyes and Jongdae can practically see the sparks flying between them. It’s unclear who moves first, but what the younger man does know is that there is a pair of lips on his own. The kiss is not very gentle, but rather needy and passionate. There is a lot of tongue and teeth and occasionally their noses bump together a bit too harsh for Jongdae’s liking. Despite that, the latter still likes it enough to pull Minseok on top of him all the while still sloppily making out. The older hunter lands with his knees on either side of Jongdae’s hips. Minseok slightly pulls on Jongdae’s lower lip with his teeth before moving down to his jaw and neck. Every bit of skin the older hunter can get his mouth on gets covered with love bites. It seems like Jongdae’s hasn’t been the only one exploiting alone time in the other’s body, because Minseok somehow knows all his sensitive spots. His ears, the juncture between his neck and his shoulders and his collar bones all get extra attention. In no time, Jongdae is already half- hard, and he hasn’t even been properly touched yet. Somewhere along the process Jongdae’s shirt, trousers and boxers go missing. So there he lies, naked as the day he was born, with Minseok sitting on his lap while ogling him. After a while, the cold air feels uncomfortable against his half-hard cock, so Jongdae starts squirming. “Could you stop staring and get on with it.”

 

Minseok’s eyes land on his thighs before he slowly shakes his head. He moves off Jongdae’s lap to sit in between his legs. “I haven’t finished marking you yet,” he teases and latches his mouth onto the skin of Jongdae’s upper left thigh. The younger hunter hisses at the feeling. Minseok is so close to his throbbing dick but purposefully keeps on avoiding the area that needs the most urgent attention. Jongdae can feel him smirking against the sensitive skin on his thighs. After what feels like an eternity of continuous teasing, Jongdae decided he has had enough. He pushes Minseok away from his legs, down on the bed and climbs on top of him.

 

“If you’re going to be like this, we’re doing it my way,” Jongdae grits out. It looks like Minseok is about to protest, but before he can properly open his mouth Jongdae surges downwards to capture his lips. Any protest the older hunter had almost immediately dies down after that. Jongdae vividly remembers Minseok being very sensitive and makes good use of that information. After discarding his clothes, he lets his hands explore all over his friend’s body with his mouth following soon after. When Jongdae swirls his tongue around one of Minseok’s nipples and follows it up by taking it in his mouth, the older hunter utters a loud moan. The younger man smirks and continues his administrations while he plays with the other bud with his left hand. It hardens under his touch and Jongdae makes sure it gets the same treatment as the other nipple. When he blows cold air on the saliva coated nub, Minseok’s hands tightly grip the sheets and he arches his back off the bed. The younger hunter trails a finger down his friend’s chest and starts tracing his defined muscles. Jongdae must admit, Minseok squirming in pleasure underneath him is so much better than actually being Minseok. He eagerly drinks in the sight, hoping this won’t be the last time he can enjoy this incredible view. Even if this ends up being a one time thing, Jongdae makes sure this image of Minseok is imprinted in his mind forever, eyes taking in every bit of visible skin.

 

“You complain about me being a tease, but explain to me what you’re doing right now?” Minseok sounds breathless, probably not disliking what Jongdae’s doing. The younger hunter lift his head so he can look at his friend’s face. When he sees Minseok’s expression, that alone confirms his suspicion. Pupils blown wide, bottom lip caught between his teeth and rosy cheeks. Yes, he is definitely enjoying this (while somehow still managing to look unbelievably beautiful).

 

“It’s called foreplay, you idiot, look it up,” the younger jokes. A sudden brilliant idea pops up in his head and Jongdae can’t help but smirk. Minseok is so sensitive, he can probably make his friend cum untouched. He swiftly retrieves lube and condoms from his duffle bag before going to work. Jongdae lubes up his finger before locking his eyes onto Minseok’s. “Can I?”

 

“Please,” Minseok almost whines, Jongdae likes the sound of that. When he gradually pushes in the first finger, it’s obvious that his friend rarely bottoms. It takes a while for him to be spread enough to enter the second finger, but Jongdae knows he’s going to enjoy Minseok’s tightness. Once the third finger is in, Minseok’s groans and pants are replaced by moans. Jongdae moves his head closer to his friend’s face, solely because he wants to hear everything coming out of his mouth. The sound of a bottle of beer opening, his favourite singer hitting high notes, everything pales in comparison to Minseok moaning out his name, sounding thoroughly wrecked. Jongdae wants more, he wants Minseok to scream in pleasure. So he takes out his fingers and replaces them with his now fully hard cock. He slowly inches in, giving his friend the time to adjust. He’s not even completely in for two seconds before Minseok orders him to move. Who knew that he would be so demanding and needy? That’s definitely a thing Jongdae’s going to remember. But the younger hunter does as he is told and starts to move. At first he keeps the pace slow, making sure he doesn’t rip his friend in half, but Minseok is having none of that. Sooner rather than later (mainly because of Minseok egging him on), Jongdae is fucking Minseok into the mattress. The younger man makes sure to keep his eyes trained on his friend’s face, enjoying every expression that he pulls. Every time Jongdae hits his prostate, his eyes widen and eyebrows shoot up, like he can’t believe how good it feels. The younger hunter isn’t complaining either, because Minseok is as tight as he expected. His walls are clenching Jongdae’s dick in way that gives him pleasure like never before. He's already close to orgasm and they have just barely started. Luckily, Minseok doesn’t look much better off. His cock is red at the tip and leaking, even though Jongdae hasn’t even touched him yet.

 

When Minseok’s hand gets dangerously close to his own dick, Jongdae stops him by lacing their fingers together on the bedsheets. “What are you doing? If you’re not going to help me, I’ll help myself,” the older moans out just as Jongdae thrusts deeply into his tight heat.

 

The younger hunter leans down so his mouth almost touches Minseok’s ear. “I’m going to make you cum untouched, just you wait,” he whispers before biting the older man’s ear for good measure. Jongdae can hear Minseok’s breath hitch so he knows he’s on the right track. The younger hunter keeps up the fast pace while playing with Minseok’s nipples and ravishing his mouth. It’s messy and rough, their tongues battling for dominance which neither of them is willing to give up. At one point, Minseok’s hands find their way onto Jongdae’s back and press down into flesh. That, in combination with the more high-pitched moans tells the younger hunter that his friend is close. To help him finally getting to his release, Jongdae makes sure his trusts are as deep as possible, hitting Minseok’s prostate head on.

 

The older hunter gasps in surprise. “Shit, Dae, hit it again, again!”

 

“With pleasure.” Jongdae slightly slows down his thrusts so he can aim for the right spot. That’s rewarded by a string of “fuck yeahs” and some unexpected compliments from his older friend. Jongdae smiles at his friend’s blabbering and licks the sensitive skin on Minseok’s neck before reclaiming his mouth. It takes a few more well-aimed thrusts before he screams out Jongdae’s name and coats both of their chests with his jizz. The pure blissed out expression currently on Minseok’s face is what sends Jongdae over the edge, who almost blacks out from the intensity of his orgasm. The younger hunter suddenly feels tired, he can barely hold himself up. It takes all of his remaining strength not to collapse right on top of a sleepy looking Minseok. Jongdae carefully slides out and attempts to throw the full condom the direction of where he thinks the bin stands.

 

“Told you I could make you cum untouched,” he mutters. His friend doesn’t bother with a reply.

 

Jongdae doesn’t realise he had fallen asleep until he cracks his eyes open and sees the sun rays creep through a crack in the curtains. It’s obvious he didn’t take a shower after last night’s activities. The hunter peeks under the sheets and cringes at the sight of dried up cum on his chest. Judging from the sounds of shuffling and quiet cursing coming from the other side of the room, Minseok is already up. He is somehow aggressively cleaning up the drawer standing under the ugly paintings. Cleaning is something Minseok always does when he is stressed, even when the room is practically spotless.

 

“Min, what got you so stressed that you’re cleaning an already neat drawer?” Said man doesn’t respond and just continues with his back turned to Jongdae. He gets up from the bed, pulls on the first pair of trousers he sees and walks up behind his friend. “We should talk about last night.” At that Minseok visibly tenses and stops in his tracks. The prospect of having a conversation about their late night activities is probably causing all this stress.

 

“What’s there to talk about? We caught the witch and handed her over to the police. Sure, some things don’t add up, but that’s not our business to find out,” Minseok mumbles more to the wall than to Jongdae.

 

Jongdae rolls his eyes and grabs his friend by the shoulders, spinning him around so they can face each other. Minseok can’t look him in the eyes and purposely keeps his gaze trained on the floor. It’s obvious that the older hunter wants to avoid talking about what happened between them at all costs, but Jongdae is not going to give up so easily this time. He wants to know why it’s the second time that something like this occurred and what Minseok’s thoughts are on the subject. Maybe he can even confess what he has been feeling for him all this time, but that depends on his friend’s reaction.

 

Jongdae places his palms on either sides of Minseok’s face to force their eyes to meet. “Look at me,” he demands. The older man reluctantly shifts his eyes from the floor to Jongdae’s. “You know I damn well didn’t mean the case. I mean the sex, Minseok. This is the second something like this happened, I want to talk about that.”

 

Minseok rips his face from Jongdae’s hands and takes a step back. Now fully backed up against the dresser, the older hunter tries to mask his expressions yet again. This time however, he doesn’t fully succeed. There is a quick flash of sadness on his face, but before Jongdae can dwell too much on it, it’s gone. Back is the stoic expression Minseok usually has during these kinds of situations. “You want to talk about it? Fine, go ahead. Just make it quick because I have other things to do,” the older man sneers.

 

Jongdae is slightly taken back by the aggressive tone. Minseok only uses that when he’s trying to mask the fact that he’s upset. The older hunter prefers venting his sorrow trough anger rather than crying or talking about his feelings. However, Jongdae is the total opposite. Situations like these can only be resolved by having a proper conversation. Not shouting followed up by ignoring each other until one of them caves. Jongdae wants to know where this sudden sadness is coming from. Does his friend regret having sex with him this much? Jongdae needs to know why Minseok is acting like this. He tries to keep his tone as calm as possible, making sure not to aggravate Minseok even more. “Listen, we’re not going to rush this. We need to have a proper talk. Otherwise the both of us are going to get hurt.”

 

Unfortunately, the calmness in Jongdae’s voice does not have the intended effect on Minseok. Instead, he just presses his lips in a thin line and furrows his brows. “Just ripping the band aid off in one go is easier than taking your sweet time. Just hurry up.”

 

Jongdae widens his eyes in disbelief, did he just hear that correctly? “What do you mean rip off the band aid in one go? You haven’t even let me have the opportunity to talk!” He cries out, not entirely following the direction in which this conversation is headed anymore. Minseok huffs in frustration.

 

“Let’s just forget this ever happened and continue our friendship like before,” he grits out and tries to push past Jongdae, but the latter stops him. He is determined to get Minseok to talk and clamps a hand on his lower arm. The hunter tries to wiggle his way out, but Jongdae keeps his iron grip around him. “Let me go!” Minseok yells out, sounding desperate rather than angry.

 

“No, I’m not going to let go until we talk.” The older man immediately stops moving when he hears Jongdae’s voice crack. They lock eyes again and Minseok audibly gulps. The younger hunter can practically see his walls crumbling, the sadness seeping into his expression again. The tears welling up in his eyes out of pure frustration must have done the trick. Fortunately, Minseok always caves in during situations like this, when he knows Jongdae really needs it.

 

Minseok lets out a sigh. “Fine, we’ll talk.” The frustration Jongdae felt before is quickly replaced with a far more pleasant feeling, just from getting Minseok to agree with him. Just as he is about to open his mouth, an obnoxious ringing cuts him off. Perfect, Minseok is being called right after he caved in, the timing couldn’t have been any worse. Jongdae wants to scream at him to not to pick up the phone. He doesn’t, of course and lets Minseok pass him so he can go outside to answer the call. Kicking the dresser out of frustration might not have been the best idea, but Jongdae is really not in his right mind at the moment. He sits down on his (still dirty) bed with a throbbing foot and silently curses whoever decided to call Minseok. Luckily, the conversation doesn’t take long, because his friend is back inside in no time. However, the shocked expression on Minseok’s face tells Jongdae that the person who called didn’t bring any good news. The older man rakes his hands through his hair before turning his face to look at Jongdae.

 

“The police officer from the other day called me. They just found another body.”


	6. Ya

“Another body? How is that possible? Isn’t it just another victim that’s been dead for a while?” Jongdae asks, desperately trying to grasp at every piece of evidence that can disprove what he just heard. When Minseok slowly nods in response he can feel himself starting to get dizzy. There is a pressure in his chest and his breathing comes out strained.

 

“The guy has been dead for roughly eight hours, that’s why they called us.” It sounds like Minseok has trouble talking, like he’s struggling to even say the words coming out of his mouth. Jongdae doesn’t even bother and keeps his lips tightly sealed, still in disbelief about what happened. They had all their arrows pointed at the witch, blatantly ignoring the contradicting evidence right in front of their faces. It was practically screaming at them that the murders were clearly not committed by her, but they kept stubbornly marching forward. Now another person is dead and the blood is on their hands. Sure, they’ve had minor slip-ups before, but they never cost anyone’s life.

“The officer texted me the address, let’s go.” Minseok looks on edge, his shoulders are tense and he keeps clenching his jaw. Words don’t find Jongdae. He just agrees in silence and follows his friend to the car.

 

The entire ride to the crime scene is spent in tense silence, both of the hunters keeping their thoughts to themselves. Guilt is steadily creeping up on Jongdae, replacing the pure shock from before. They did this. This happened because they turned a blind eye to evidence clearly not adding up. It seems like hurling himself out of the car is the only appropriate way to repay for the mistake they’ve made. There is no other way to make it up to the victim or their family. Jongdae sincerely hopes they are in a better place now, but that hope doesn’t make them any less dead. He isn’t even sure if he can handle interviewing the victim’s relatives, with his mind constantly screaming at him to get on his knees and beg for their forgiveness. Jongdae hopes to God that the victim didn’t leave behind any young children. Minseok suddenly makes a sharp turn to the left and parks his car in front of a row of tall, narrow houses. They just arrived at their destination, Jongdae can clearly see that, but he doesn’t want to get out yet. He doesn’t want to face their failure to do their job and protect innocent people. After he doesn’t make any indication to move, Minseok pats his shoulder to encourage him to get out of the car. There is no escaping now, he drags himself out of the car. It feels like there is led in his shoes. Even after impatient glances from Minseok walking in front of him, Jongdae can’t seem to make his feet carry him to the crime scene any faster. The corner house is surrounded by the typical yellow tape Jongdae has come to resent. They’re about to enter the house when the now familiar police officer stops them.

 

“Agents, before you go in, I must warn you. What you’ll see in there is not a pretty sight. The victim is completely unrecognisable,” the woman tells them in a shaky voice. She looks as bad as Jongdae feels right now. “According to the ID in his wallet he was a 48 year old man named Benjamin Newson. The guy doesn’t seem to have a wife or children, we’ll let you know if we find any more information.” Out of the corner of his eyes Jongdae can see his friend writing everything down, before politely nodding at the officer. The younger hunter follows his example before walking towards the house. If the first crime scene was messy, this one is even worse. The whole living room is a straight up mess. Almost all furniture has been flipped over, one of the curtains has been pulled down, all the windows are open, most of the wall decorations are on the floor and there is blood everywhere. The victim and the killer clearly got into a big fight. That’s nothing compared to the sight of the victim lying behind the sofa, in a pool of his own blood. Jongdae understands why there was no way to identify the man with something other than his ID. His entire face seems to have been clawed off and both of his hands have been cut off at the wrist. After Jongdae gave the body a swift one-over, he immediately averts his eyes. He can feel tears prickling in the corners of his eyes and a bile forming in his throat. He needs to get away from here, away from their mistakes. The realisation dawns on Jongdae. They did this, this man’s life ended in such a horrible way because of them. His vision starts to blur and he runs out of the house. His legs take him to the car where he collapses in the passenger seat, no longer being able to hold back the violent sobs from escaping.

 

Someone is screaming at him. Maybe it’s the police officer, who just knows that he’s guilty and blames him for everything. Jongdae can’t fault her, he deserves it. She’s shaking his shoulders now, probably trying to make him look up. Jongdae scrapes all of his courage together and lifts up his head. Through his tear-filled eyes he can make out that the person facing him was none other than Minseok. Although this is quite the relief for Jongdae, he can’t stop himself from shaking.

 

“Jongdae, please answer me. What’s going on? Are you okay?” Jongdae feels guilt-stricken when Minseok pale face comes into view. He probably has the same feelings coursing through him and all Jongdae can think about is himself. Another sob escapes him, he wants to get away from this place and return to the familiarity of their motel room. 

 

“Let’s just go,” he manages to croak out between sobs. Jongdae tries to stop himself from breaking down, in the hope that Minseok stops throwing concerned glances in his direction and focusses his eyes on the road instead. As soon as they are inside their room Minseok slams the door close and grabs Jongdae by the shoulders again.

 

“Dae, tell me what’s going on with you. Just, please.” The pure desperation in which Minseok utters these words almost make Jongdae break down again. He forces himself to hold back the tears threatening to spill over, just so he can tell his friend what’s going on.

 

Jongdae has trouble finding his voice and audibly gulps before opening his mouth. “That man died a horrible death because of us. And I just ignored evidence and let the deceased woman rot in a container just because I was tired!” he screams out, now fuming with anger. He scans Minseok’s face hoping to find a trace of rage in his expression, but he can’t find any. Instead, he just looks like he is in pain, wincing slightly at Jongdae’s outburst.

 

“Jongdae-”

 

“No. Why aren’t you screaming at me? Ignoring me? Do something, I need you to do something!” He is begging at this point, shaking Minseok’s shoulders in a futile attempt to make him mad. If they don’t fight it out now, it’s going to follow them forever. He needs to vent all the frustration and the guilt he felt for the last couple of hours. For a moment, Minseok is completely frozen before moving his head forward and capturing Jongdae’s lips in a gentle kiss. Jongdae is shocked at first, expecting a punch in the face rather than soft lips on his own. So shocked in fact, that he almost forgets to kiss back. It’s not sexual like the other kisses they shared before, it’s gentle and reassuring somehow. Minseok has always been of the mindset that actions speak louder than words. When Jongdae feels his friend slotting their hands together he knows what Minseok is trying to do. Instead of succumbing to Jongdae’s begging and starting a fight, he’s giving him the comforting he obviously needs. Minseok slowly deepens the kiss, sliding their tongues together in a well-practised dance. When Minseok tries to move away the younger man chases his lips for one last peck, not wanting it to end. 

 

Jongdae doesn’t magically feel any less guilty, but he calmed down severely and isn’t on the edge of breaking down any more. A fight would only elevate the bad mood he is in, so he’s thankful that his older friend made the right decision. Gentle actions like these is what made Jongdae slowly fall in love with Minseok over the years. All though he has a limited ability with words, his actions never fail to remind Jongdae that Minseok has a big heart and that he truly cares about him.

The kiss has some negative side-effects too, he can’t stop looking at Minseok’s lips. They look really red and it takes all of Jongdae’s willpower not to go in for another one. His mouth is moving now, forming words the younger hunter can’t hear because he isn’t paying attention. He shakes his head and tries to listen to what Minseok has to say.

 

“Uhm… feeling guilty and getting angry at yourself is not going to help anyone. It’s only a waste of time. Besides, I’m also at fault, so don’t only blame yourself.” Minseok squeezes Jongdae’s hand and throws him a small smile. “Let’s start researching and catch this killer, before another body drops,” the older hunter exclaims in an over the top cheerful voice. He’s clearly also guilt-stricken. Jongdae knows he’s probably not willing to talk about his feelings, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

 

Jongdae furrows his brows. Now that he finally takes a good look at his friend’s face, it looks like he’s going to be sick. His normal, healthy glow is nowhere to be seen. “How are you feeling? You look so pale.” As expected, Minseok nonchalantly waves his troubles away and mumbles “I’m fine,” under his breath. That’s enough of an indication for Jongdae not to press the issue any further, for now. Instead he moves away from their close position and grabs his laptop. The wobbly motel table managed to hold several spell ingredients so his laptop probably won’t break it.

 

Between the two of them there is only one laptop, seeing as they don’t have enough money to buy another one. Hunting down monsters and saving people doesn’t pay much. Better said: they do it for free and get by on scamming credit card companies. They can’t bear it to ask people for money after they save them, especially since monsters, ghosts and other creepy creatures don’t discriminate. More often than not, some poor sucker or a young child falls victim to those creatures. Besides, it’s not like these people ask them for their help, they usually find these cases on their own. Who in their right mind would pay people for a service they didn’t ask for? Exactly. It’s not that Jongdae minds. Yeah, the motels are usually crappy and there are days where cheap, disgusting fast food is their only option, but throughout all these things, Minseok has been by his side. In Jongdae’s mind, that makes up for everything. So when the older hunter slowly scoots his chair closer to Jongdae so he can see the laptop screen, he is reminded on why he really doesn’t mind their lifestyle, even if they don’t have much. Jongdae smiles at the thought and turns on his laptop, ready to start their research.

 

The first thing they do when researching victims is find out what they have in common, so they can try to predict who the next target is going to be. Aside from the first one, they don’t know anything about the victims. When Jongdae places his fingers on the keyboard to do some research on the second victim, he realises that he doesn’t even know her name.

“Minseok, quick question. What is the name of the woman we found in your car?” He asks, eyes avoiding Minseok’s out of shame.

 

The older man lets out a chuckle and slaps Jongdae’s shoulder. “You’re losing your edge, man. Hand over your laptop, I’ll do it.” Minseok motions at the device. Jongdae carefully slides it over, letting Minseok do his thing. He puts on his serious face and squints his eyes at the screen. Not wanting to waste any of their precious time, Jongdae gets out his phone and starts looking into the latest victim. He writes down anything useful he can find, until he stumbles upon an interesting fact.

 

“Minseok, didn’t the first victim work for some secondary school in town? Because apparently the third one started working there 12 years ago. Other than that, I can’t find a connection”

 

Minseok furrows his brows and nods. “Yeah you’re right, the first one did work there. The second victim was too old to still be working, but maybe she used to work there.” A few clicks and frustrated sighs later, he finds what he was looking for. “Got it! She used to be the principal and stopped working there 8 years ago.” Minseok turns the laptop around so Jongdae can see what he’s referring to. The older hunter is currently on the secondary school’s homepage, where the second victim is listed as a former employee. The other two victim’s photos pop up in an ‘In memorial post’, accompanied by sweet messages. Jongdae swallows heavily after reading some of them and quickly snaps the laptop shut. Minseok jumps up at the sudden action but quickly regains himself.

 

“Looks like we’re going to have to pay this school a visit.”

 

Jongdae lifts his arm to look at the watch decorating his wrist. “Let’s push that back to tomorrow, it’s already past 9 PM, I doubt they’re still open.”

 

Minseok lets out a dry chuckle but doesn’t say anything in return, effectively ending that conversation. For the first time since the start of the mess they call this case they’re allowing themselves to take a break. The air between them is suddenly tense, neither of them making an attempt to get up from their chairs. The expression on Minseok’s face reminds Jongdae of a scared animal, afraid that any wrong move might be fatal. He looks tense, as if he knows Jongdae is about to start what might be one of the most uncomfortable conversation of their lives.

 

“I know you don’t like talking about this, but can you at least answer one question for me?” The stiff nod coming from Minseok is enough encouragement for Jongdae to continue. “Do you regret having sex with me?”

 

“No.” Comes the immediate response. Jongdae almost smiles at the firm tone Minseok uses, assuring Jongdae that what his friend is telling is nothing but the truth. It looks like Minseok is taken back by his own quick reply, a slight pink tint coating his cheeks. The corners of Jongdae’s mouth tug upwards, admiring the rare sight of a blushing Minseok. 

 

“In case you’re wondering, I don’t regret it either,” Jongdae teases, elbowing his partner in the ribs. The latter throws him a radiating smile in response. It has always been simple for the two of them to turn a dead serious conversation into easy banter. Having known each other for almost two decades, it’s no surprise the two of them play off each other seamlessly.

Jongdae knows he celebrated too soon when Minseok’s expression turns from serious to smug in record time, that never means anything but trouble.

 

“It’s because I’m a great fuck, right?” He wiggles his eyebrows, a lazy smile gracing his features.

 

“Sure,” Jongdae deadpans, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible. He doesn’t want to give Minseok the satisfaction of knowing that was indeed a part of the reason why he doesn’t regret it, along with the whole ‘being finally able to have sex with the love of my life’ thing. “So what’s the reason you don’t regret it then?” It’s very light-hearted, the way in which Jongdae asks this question. Only it somehow results in Minseok nervously fidgeting in his seat, purposefully avoiding Jongdae’s gaze. The change in his friend’s demeanour surprises Jongdae. Knowing Minseok, this can only mean that he’s reluctant to say something. Jongdae doesn’t push him into telling him whatever is on his mind, patiently waiting for an answer. Instead he just places his hand on Minseok’s lower arm, staring out the window alongside his friend. He expected a simple joke back, so getting a serious answer from the older hunter is worth the wait. The fidgeting goes on for a little while longer, before Minseok gathered up enough courage to open his mouth.

 

“It’s because it was more intimate, I think. I mean, l don’t actually know any of the people I usually sleep with, which makes me hold back. With you, there is no barrier,” Minseok confesses, voice so small that it’s barely audible. Jongdae can’t help but feel the familiar flutter in his stomach, he’s over the moon after hearing the confession. If Minseok already feels this way about sex, maybe there’s a chance that the older hunter might return Jongdae’s feelings. What an amazing prospect. He won’t jump on this opportunity however, knowing Minseok he will need some time to process all this. Pressuring him further will do more harm than good. For now, the younger hunter is more than happy with this giant step in the right direction. He squeezes Minseok’s arm, causing the other to turn his gaze towards him. Never in his life has Jongdae seen his partner so nervous, he’s still shifting around in his seat, eyes uncertain and slightly glossy. No longer satisfied with watching Minseok squirm around, Jongdae breaks the silence.

 

“Don’t worry Min, I feel the same. It was an amazing experience that I’d love to try again.” Jongdae says teasingly and follows it up with a fat wink. Minseok throws him a knowing look, already leaning towards Jongdae from his position on the chair. Before their lips can make contact however, Jongdae puts his index finger on Minseok’s lips, effectively stopping him mid-air. “Under one condition. You fuck me this time.” Judging from the lap full of Minseok he gets after finishing that sentence, he is more than happy than oblige.

 

That’s how they spend the remainder of the evening, wrapped up in each other. For once, Jongdae doesn’t think about the case, doesn’t think about what horrors might be in store for them the next day. His mind is completely occupied with Minseok, Minseok, Minseok. Even after the both of them found their release, there is not a single negative thing on his mind. Jongdae can only observe a panting, sweaty, blissed out Minseok lying next to him, blessing Jongdae with one of his effortlessly beautiful smiles. It’s perfect, so perfect that he has to resist the urge to cry, never expecting this kind of progress in their relationship. That night, instead of the usual terrors, his dreams are filled with a certain older hunter, confessing his undying love in the most cliché way imaginable. Waking up isn’t so bad when there's a chance that it might become a reality very soon.


	7. Boi

“Take a left there so we can park in front of the main entrance.” Jongdae instructs Minseok. He does as he’s told and the school comes into view. It’s a massive grey building, with the occasional splash of colour on the window-frames. If he was still in secondary school, Jongdae would probably find the three story building looming over them intimidating. He isn’t, however, and walks in with his usual confidence, Minseok hot on his heels. After getting directions from the bored looking reception lady, the pair makes their way over to the principal’s office. Once they arrive, Jongdae impatiently knocks on his door, opening it before the guy even has a chance to reply. The man looks up from where he’s sitting at his desk with wide, almond shaped eyes. Jongdae can softly hear Minseok scuff at the state the principal’s office is in. Papers are scattered across his desk, the bin is overflowing with rubbish and he obviously didn’t count on them arriving half an hour earlier.

 

“Gentlemen, how can I help you?” The guy asks, low voice not matching his boyish features. The hunters show their badges and the principal immediately shoots up from his chair. Jongdae has to slightly crane his neck to look up at him, the guy is tall. Despite his height, he doesn’t look intimidating in the slightest, with his big, floppy ears and mop of curly, chestnut brown hair.

 

“Mr Park? I’m agent Ehart, and this is my partner, agent Walsh,” Jongdae introduces them while shaking Park’s outstretched hand. The principle offers them a toothy grin and motions them to sit down. Once Jongdae’s settled himself in the uncomfortable, slippery plastic chair he continues, not wanting to waste any more time in finding whoever is responsible. “We made an appointment to talk about the recent tragedies surrounding your school.”

 

Park’s grin turns lopsided and he sighs heavily. “It’s awful what happened. I can’t believe somebody is purposely targeting my employees, former and current.”

 

Jongdae’s stomach churns thinking about the latest victim. He keeps his lips tightly sealed, preventing himself from blurting out something stupid that he’ll regret later. The principal had to deal with three employees dying in such a short amount of time. Jongdae is tempted to climb over the desk and cling to his dress shirt while apologizing profusely. Minseok notices his discomfort and squeezes his thigh, continuing the conversation.

“We’re sorry for your loss, Mr Park. We’ll do everything within our power to catch whoever is responsible. But in order to do that, we need you to answer a couple of questions.”

The principle nervously adjusts his tie, but seems to be in agreement.

 

“The last victim, Mr Newson, did he have any enemies, or was there anyone who strongly disliked him? Like former or current colleagues, maybe even a disgruntled student? It has to be someone who was there when Mrs Choi was still principal, being as she was the second victim.” Minseok adds.

That had to narrow it down, at least, that is what Jongdae is hoping for. If they end up with a list of fifty names they still aren’t anywhere near to solving this case. Spitting through so many files is always a pain in the ass.

 

Park scrubs his hands against his face and frowns. “I only started working here five years ago, so I can only tell you from what I’ve heard from Mr Newson himself.”

 

Jongdae, finally having found his voice again, gives the principal an encouraging smile. “Anything is still better than nothing, we’ll work with what we get.”

 

They end up with five names, two employees and three former students. Once they get back to the motel and look into it, they are quickly able to cross three names off their list already. The first one, a former employee, currently lives in Germany with his wife. They found no plane tickets to his name, so no way he was able to fly over and kill three people. The next guy, a former student, has been in a coma for six months. The other employee is currently sporting a broken leg and arm from a skiing accident. It’s obvious that the woman probably couldn’t fight and drag a body into a car with two broken limbs. That just leaves them with two former students, who both apparently caused a lot of trouble back in the day.

 

Nick, the guy they decide to visit first, lives a town over. That gives him the opportunity to commit the murders. He also has motive, fighting with teachers, other students and ending up in the principal’s office almost every week. Not really a reason to murder someone in Jongdae’s eyes, but people have been killed for much less. On their way over to the neighbouring town, they ponder about how to handle such a troubled person, but in the end, it’s not necessary. Nick, the former trouble maker, now lives with his six (yeah, six) children as a stay at home dad. During their interview with him, Jongdae is prodded and poked at continuously, one child even attempts to eat his hair. Minseok has a kid sitting on his lap, screaming in his ear about his ‘super exciting swimming lessons’. That leaves Jongdae to do the talking, all whilst his hair is collecting saliva from a hungry child. It turns out that Nick has a solid alibi for every murder, having six children to take care of takes up a lot of time. They wrap up the interview as soon as they can, eager to get away from the sticky fingers and never ending swimming lesson stories.

 

After Jongdae takes a well-deserved shower, the hunters try to find everything they can about the last suspect, Kit Wong. Minseok tries his hand at finding his address, while Jongdae does more general research about the guy. He had private tutoring at school from Mr Newman and Mr Foster, who both taught subjects he had a difficulty passing. He attended the school eleven years ago before getting kicked out after one year, which lined up with Mrs Choi’s former employment. Everything seemed to fit.

 

“Dae, minor problem.” Minseok peeks his head from behind the laptop to look at Jongdae. It’s an adorable sight, which he can’t swoon about for too long in a serious situation like this. “I can’t find any recent addresses. The only one I was able to find is from ten years ago, where he lived with his parents. It’s only a few blocks from our motel, but I doubt the guy still lives there well in his twenties.” Jongdae narrows his eyes and turns to his own research, when his eyes suddenly zero in on a local newspaper article. He clicks on it and quickly skims trough every paragraph.

 

“No wonder you can’t find any recent address. The guy has been dead for seven years,” Jongdae declares, reading the article more thoroughly for further details. “Apparently Kit died in a car accident. It says here that he drove his car into a canal after a night of clubbing.”

 

Minseok groaned and rubbed his hands against his temples. “That means we’re dealing with a demon? Fucking hell.” Fucking hell indeed. People who die are only able to return among the living as a ghost or a demon. Ghosts always stick to one place and aren’t able to stab people to death, meaning that they are definitely dealing with a demon. They are by far the worst creatures that they ever have and probably ever will encounter. Witches, although annoying and manipulative, are nothing compared to demons. Those things are pure evil. Fortunately, most of them are locked up in hell. The ones that do manage to escape cause pure chaos anywhere they come across. Sometimes they do it for fun, sometimes they do it for revenge. After years of continuous torture in the pits of hell there is nothing but malicious intentions left, souls completely stripped of any humanity. They feel no remorse, no sadness, only greed, anger, wrath and pride. Any human that goes to hell eventually becomes a demon. Some are able to withstand the torture for decades, others give in rather quickly. That looks to be the case with Kit, seven years is quite fast. He must have been blinded by revenge. Demons blame others for the mistakes they made in their human lives. Kit probably blames his teachers and the principal for going to hell. Why he blames them, will remain a mystery until they catch him, but who is next on his list?

 

Jongdae sighs. “Probably explains the stab wounds, they do remind me an awful lot of a demon blade.” Why he didn’t notice this similarity immediately is beyond him, what a rooky mistake. With its medium length, sharp tip and serrated edges it exactly fits the stab wounds inflicted on all the victims. Demons always carry those blades, seeing as they are both fatal to humans and demons alike. Minseok shoots him a glance, a tiny smile appearing. Jongdae nods knowingly and Minseok starts to rummage through their luggage.

 

“After our last dealing with demons, I really hoped we didn’t have to use these ever again.” Minseok twirls one of the two blades on his finger, the only prize they were able to snatch after dealing with the shitheads before. 

 

“Now that we have established that, we need to find out who’s going to be the next victim.”

 

Minseok shrugs. “No clue, didn’t you find anything during your research?”

 

“I didn’t find any other names besides the three victims. Kit didn’t have any trouble with his other subjects in school.” Just to be sure, Jongdae reads through his file and several other news articles, but no other names pop up.

 

“Didn’t you say his parents live close by, we could ask them?” Jongdae suddenly sits up and grabs Minseok by his shoulders.

 

“His parents, of course! They probably made him go to that school. Thanks, Minseok!” He screams out of pure enthusiasm. Minseok looks a bit shaken up by his outburst but hesitantly smiles anyway. Without losing any more time, they quickly make their way over to Mrs and Mr Wong’s house. There is a stark contrast between the neighbourhood they just entered and the ones they’ve been visiting the last couple of days. It’s nowhere near as luxurious or extravagant, but rather simple and sober. The houses on each side of the street are small but well maintained. The house where Kit’s parents reside fits in well with the rest. The front garden is in top state and it looks like the front door and the window-frames just got a fresh, new coat of paint. The door opens to reveal a small, middle aged woman with big, brown eyes and a confused look on her face. Jongdae does their usual introductions, which causes the woman to look even more confused. She lets them in nonetheless, speaking to them over their shoulder while making them coffee in the kitchen. After shouting something Jongdae doesn’t quite catch, Mr Wong appears from upstairs. He introduces himself before taking a seat by the kitchen table. Judging from the pictures that came with the news article, Kit takes after his mother. The intense eyebrows and narrow eyes are the only distinct features he has in common with his father.

 

“I know what happened to those people is horrible, but I don’t understand what it has to do with us,” Mrs Wong voices, crouched down in front of a cabinet, while Minseok and Jongdae join Mr Wong at the kitchen table. Jongdae looks over to his hunting partner and mouths ‘Should I tell them’ at him. Minseok immediately nods, relief visibly washing over him as Jongdae volunteered to do the dirty work.

 

“Mrs and Mr Wong,” he starts of hesitantly, waiting for her to sit down in front of them. “It’s not about you, it’s about your son.” She immediately stiffens in her chair, eyes darting over to her equally uncomfortable husband before looking at Jongdae with glossy eyes.

 

“Our son passed away seven years ago.” Jongdae swallows heavily, dreading having to explain what happened to Kit. Situations like this are not uncommon for them, trying to convince the family that their loved one is not actually dead, but roaming the streets as a ghost or a demon. Unless the family had pre-existing knowledge or encounters with the supernatural, they never understand. Reactions would range from thinking it’s all some cruel joke to kicking the hunters out of their house. Jongdae can understand, what they tell those people sounds ridiculous, but they only do it when it’s necessary for their protection.

 

“Mrs and Mr Wong, I know this might sound crazy, but your son has returned… as a demon.” After Jongdae utters that sentence the kitchen falls completely silent. At first, Kit’s parents are in disbelief, looking at them expectantly. When neither of the hunters cracks a smile, Mr Wong stands up from his seat and points at the door. “Get out.” His voice is shaking with anger, face twisted in disgust. A reaction the hunters have come to expect. Both of them try to appease the situation, Minseok even attempts to explain that the only link between the murders is Kit. This obviously doesn’t sit well with Mrs Wong, who is full on crying now, making Mr Wong even angrier. Jongdae desperately tries to think of a way to solve this mess until he smells it.

 

A very distinct sulphur smell, Kit’s here. The smell that permanently clings to them and their yet black eyes are the only things that set demons apart from humans. The smell overpowers any other and invades your nose like nothing else, serving as a warning that there’s a demon close by. In hindsight, this also seems like a big thing they missed during investigating this case. All the bodies were found in such conditions that it would have been impossible for the sulphur smell to linger, giving Kit the time to execute his plans without any hunters interfering.

 

Jongdae snaps his head to look at Minseok, who must have smelled the demon too, face scrunched up in disgust. To Mrs and Mr Wong the smell doesn’t mean the same as it does to the hunters. Mrs Wong still has tears rolling down her cheeks and Mr Wong is now angrily marching over to Jongdae. With the smell getting more and more invasive, they need to make a move fast. Before Mr Wong can lay a finger on Jongdae, both of the hunters are pointing their guns at him.

 

“I’ve had enough!” Minseok shouts in a low voice. This (and probably also the guns pointing at him) causes Mr Wong to stop in his tracks with wide eyes. “Both of you, out of the house. Take the back door and don’t return until tomorrow. Do as I say or you will die,” Minseok demands, making sure that the now frightened pair listens to him. Mr Wong takes his still crying wife by the hand and pulls her out of the house. Kit leaves them no time for celebration, pounding on the front door right after his parents left in a hurry.

 

“Mom, dad, open the door. Come here and look at what you did to me!” he furiously screams. The hunters put back their guns and take out their demon blades instead, preparing themselves for the shitstorm that’s about to happen. It doesn’t take long for Kit to get impatient and decides to use force to get inside. Demons are much stronger than humans, it doesn’t take them much effort to break down a door. Kit stomps towards the kitchen, scowling when instead of his parents, he is met by two hunters with murderous expressions on their faces.

 

“Hunters.” Kit growls. “Where are my parents?” He points his demon blade to Minseok, who’s coincidently the one standing the closest to the kitchen entrance. The hunters stay behind the kitchen table, which serves as a kind of shield against sudden attacks.

 

“Why’d you do it, Kit?” Jongdae asks, breaking the tense silence that has fallen between them. If the demon is not going to attack them out of nowhere, he can at least try to pry for information.

 

Kit scuffs at his question. “Why did I do it?” he sneers back, taking a step towards the kitchen table, face twisted in anger. With Kit slowly moving closer to them, Jongdae notices that he is almost a head taller than the both of them. He looks almost exactly like the pictures Jongdae found online; pale skin, intense eyebrows, sharp jawline and a straight nose. The only difference are his jet black eyes. It feels like they are staring holes into Jongdae’s soul, probably jealous that the hunter still has one. Kit’s lips curl up in a wicked smile and he points at himself. “They did this to me, they had it coming.” He sounds unfazed, not affected by the gruesome murders he committed. Not that that could be expected of such a vile creature.

 

Anger boils up in Jongdae’s chest and besides him Minseok is fuming. “Nothing that they’ve done to you could justify what you did to them.”

 

This enrages Kit even further, narrowing his eyes at Minseok. “So you think that a 17 year old kid deserves to be beaten by someone he trusted? A teacher who swore to help him, only to result to violence when he didn’t understand something. I felt like the only thing Newman used his hands for was for hitting me,” He spits, words dripping with venom. Jongdae thinks that’s the end of it, but Kit isn’t done cursing at his victims.

 

“Foster was a piece of shit, Newman and he were buddies, who the fuck is buddies with an abuser? Choi was no better. She didn’t do anything when I told her about it and she was supposed to be the principal. She just chose to ignore the bruises and me begging her to fire him. That bitch couldn’t see nor hear evil if it was screaming at her face. And my parents send me off to that awful school knowing full well how horrible it was in there. So you tell me if you think they don’t deserve a one way ticket to hell.”

Jongdae swallows, that was a lot to take in at once. More time to ponder over Kit’s tragic past is cut short when the demon swings his blade forward towards Minseok, clearly done talking. Minseok is barely able to avoid the attack, jumping backwards against a kitchen cabinet. The older hunter hisses when his back hits the edge, momentarily distracted by the pain. Jongdae moves his body in front of Minseok, defending him against another swing of the blade.

 

Being a creature with superior strength, Kit easily grabs Jongdae by the collar of his dress shirt and throws him against the opposite wall. Jongdae has to resist the urge to hunch over from the immense pain, but swiftly regains himself and stands up, leaning against the wall. Fully backed up isn’t the best fighting position he could be in, but Kit is starting to lose patience. He blindly swings his blade towards Jongdae’s direction, who ducks and stabs his blade right through Kit’s upper arm. The demon screams, dropping his blade, giving Jongdae the opportunity to push him towards the floor. He kicks the blade to the other side of the kitchen and harshly presses his foot against Kit’s torso.

 

“You saw the witch as a golden opportunity didn’t you? You used her as a scapegoat?”

 

Somehow Kit is able to smile through the pain, upper arm still bleeding and now forming a pool of dark, red liquid on the kitchen floor. “The opportunity fell right into my lap, I would be a fool not to make use of it. It’s not my fault that my plans interfered with those off the witch. Putting Choi in your car and parking it in front of her hiding place was a genius move, admit it.” Kit is unnaturally calm under him as he utters these words. Maybe it’s because he knows struggling will only lead to more agony, the hunter clearly has the upper hand. Minseok groaning in pain causes Jongdae’s eyes to shift over from the wickedly smiling demon on the floor to his hunting partner. The impact against the cabinet was apparently much more painful than Jongdae initially thought. The older hunter is still clutching his injured side, demon blade long forgotten on the floor.

 

One of the first lessons you learn as a hunter: never lose sight of your attacker. Jongdae is harshly reminded of that lesson when his back hits the kitchen floor. He was so engrossed with Minseok that he gave Kit the opportunity to reverse their positions. The demon uses one hand to pin both of Jongdae’s arms against the floor and uses the other one to close off his air supply, squeezing his throat with an inhumane grip. Kit’s knees are positioned on either side of Jongdae’s upper legs, making it impossible for him to kick his attacker off. With him being unable to breath, the edges of his vision are blurring, eyes now solely focusing on the demon grinning on top of him. Who knew that a seemingly simple witch case would be the downfall of the legendary Kim Jongdae? He certainly didn’t. All he can think about his how he didn’t get the opportunity to talk things out with Minseok. Minseok, the only person that he truly cares about, who has been by his side through it all. Minseok, the last person he’ll think about before he inevitably chokes to death. Minseok, the love of his life. Tears are rolling down his cheeks, either from the lack of oxygen or from regretting having to meet his end like this, not being able to tell Minseok what he feels. Jongdae has now stopped struggling, not having enough oxygen in his body to be able to move his limbs. Kit cackles on top of him, shamelessly drinking in the sight of a powerless Jongdae dying by his hands. The cackling suddenly stops, the grip on his neck loosens and the hunter can feel a warm liquid seeping through his clothes.

 

Minseok looms above them, blade firmly planted in Kit’s back. He hauls the demon off his hunting partner and takes a heavily panting Jongdae in his arms. Kit is sputtering and trashing around besides them, a scream of agony ripping out of his throat. Neither of the hunters pay attention to the demon using his dying breath to curse them to hell and back. Minseok releases Jongdae from his grip, guiding his upper body so he can lean against the kitchen wall. The younger hunter takes his time regaining his breath, the pain in his neck making it harder for his eager lungs. His vision is starting to become less blurry, Minseok’s face coming into clear view. Still crouched down between Jongdae’s parted legs, Minseok gently takes Jongdae’s face in his hands. His lower lip is quivering and his eyes are starting to water.

 

“What got you so upset, I’m still here,” Jongdae manages to say, voice barely audible. When Minseok doesn’t answer, he places his hands on top of the ones still cradling his face. “You can tell me, come on, Min.”

 

“I-I don’t want to lose you. You were so close to death, I thought you were gone.” Minseok softly confesses in between furiously wiping the tears threatening to stain his cheeks. Something warm blooms in Jongdae’s chest, mouth stretching into a wide smile.

 

“And why are you so afraid to lose me?” He somehow manages to make his barely there voice sound teasing. This takes Minseok by surprise, mouth repeatedly opening and closing before finally answering.

 

“Because I love you, how have you not figured that out by now?” Minseok says playfully before almost elbowing Jongdae in the ribs, but deciding against it at the last moment, smart move. In less than a second his cheerful expression changes after he seemingly realises what kind of situation they’re currently in. “Wait, why are we discussing this next to a dead body? The neighbours must have heard something, we should probably leave.” Minseok removes his fingers from Jongdae’s face and abruptly stands up. He outstretches his hand which Jongdae gratefully excepts, both the inured hunters somehow manoeuvring themselves to the car. Jongdae doesn’t fret about the sudden end of that conversation. Although the confession wasn’t in an ideal setting nor anything close to romantic, it was very ‘Minseok’ and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He smiles to himself as he looks to the road ahead, grey asphalt leading them to their next destination. It might be to the north, where your toes freeze off as soon as you take a step outside. It might be to the south, where the cheap motels never have working air-conditioning. To Jongdae it doesn’t matter, knowing that Minseok will be by his side no matter what.


End file.
